Blind Ambition

Brandon Sneed:

JUST BEFORE SUNRISE, Captain Iván Castro feels his way across his hotel room to the bathroom sink. He stands before the mirror, his left eye wandering up and to the left, his right eyelid shut flat against an empty socket. He touches his right ear, then his sideburn. He shaves it, dry, a couple strokes down, a couple up. Repeats on the opposite side. Today, in particular, he wants to look good.

After the 44-year-old combs his salt-and-pepper hair, parted on the left, he sits down on his bed and dresses, the April morning light gleaming now off his stainless silver bracelet, the one bearing the names of Ralph Porras and Justin Dreese. He pulls on a dri-fit T-shirt with a U.S. Army Special Forces insignia. Above it is his name and the phrase "Blind Runner." Below it is another phrase: "I WILL NEVER QUIT."